10 Best Highlighters for Achieving a Next-Level Glow

Skincare will always be our favorite way to glow, but we've learned that it's always good to have a backup plan when it isn't working the way we want it to. Enter, highlighter—the makeup world's gift to everyone who needs an instant skin makeover without actually covering anything up. You can transform your dull complexion into a gleaming ball of perfection in a single swipe, and we all know how satisfying that is. And because everyone deserves to experience that magic sans the guesswork, we rounded up some of our favorite highlighter formulas for every kind of glow.

Best Highlighters

1. Stila Heaven's Hue Highlighter

This product's soft, bouncy surface will make you want to apply highlighter with your hands. The result will be worth it, after all, because it provides such a natural, dewy, and intense glow that basically melts into your skin and makes you look like you drink 10 glasses of water a day.

2. Laura Mercier Face Illuminator Powder

Laura Mercier gives you a chance to customize your glow with this buttery soft powder. One layer provides a soft, subtle sheen, but when you go in with that second layer, you'll get that blinding highlight that could pass as an Instagram filter.

ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW

PHOTO BY Laura Mercier

LAURA MERCIER Face Illuminator Powder, P1850, Glorietta 3

3. MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish

If you want a highlighter everyone can see from space, this is the one for you. This formula has the intensity of a liquid in a powder texture, so you're basically getting the best of both worlds. True to its name, using it will give your face some true extra dimension.

4. Hourglass Vanish Flash Highlighting Stick

Hourglass' Vanish Flash sticks have a dreamy creamy texture that just glides on seamlessly over bare skin or a layer of foundation. It has a finish that emulates the glow your skin gets during golden hour, so you won't have to wait until 5 p.m. to take a round of selfies.

5. Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Liquid Highlighter

Becca makes some of the most popular highlighters in the world and their pressed powder formula is their certified best-seller. Hence, we want to give a shoutout to its liquid sister instead, which you can wear alone on the high points of your face for a glass skin finish, or mix into your foundation to give it a more luminous effect.

6. Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish Highlighter & Balm Duo

You may only have two highlighters in this stick, but you can achieve three looks with it. For a traditional glow sans any chunky glitters, use the cream highlighter end alone. For a makeup-free sheen, swipe on the clear balm. Lastly, wear the two over one another for an out-of-this-world luminosity that somehow still looks your skin's natural glow.

7. RMS Beauty Luminizer

RMS' Luminizers are the ultimate "no-makeup" makeup highlighters. Formulated mostly with natural oils, it has a glossy finish that gives a lit-from-within look, as if you just put some extra moisturizer on. It comes in different shades like a rose gold and peach for a sun-kissed effect, but the clear shade Living is the secret to subtly faking a good skin day.

ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW

PHOTO BY Sephora

RMS BEAUTY Luminizer, P2350, Rustan's Makati

8. Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb All-Over Diamond Veil

Fenty Beauty wasn't kidding when they decided to call this product a diamond bomb. The silver sparkle this offers isn't for the faint of heart, created specifically for people who love glitter and aren't afraid to bathe in it. A generous application on your face will have your skin shining bright like a diamond—the Rihannaway, of course.

9. Teviant Glow to Glass Palette

This palette was made in collaboration with makeup artist Mark Qua, who's known for his mesmerizing dewy skin looks. It contains to powder highlighters—one with a soft, everyday type of radiance, and another with a reflective, crystal-like finish that lets light bounce right off your skin.

ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW

PHOTO BY Teviant

TEVIANT Glow to Glass Palette in Astral, P995, SM Megamall

10. Glossier Haloscope

If you're new to makeup, it's best to start with a highlighter that's impossible to overapply. Glossier's Haloscope is popular for being exactly that, thanks to its solid core of moisturizing oils that blend with an outer layer of shimmer to craft the gorgeous, dewy effect the brand is known for.